robscholl-OF

Well, if it is going to change........we should change it to, "Slappy."ÂÂ

Horton, it is ZIPPY not ZAPPY............You know, Zippy,for Zippy the pin head... ÂÂ

I will wait until they get all the bugs worked out, then I just may........

I have two vests, one for summer and another for winter.  I use large for summer (Wear nothing under it) XL for winter, for obvious reasons. OFÂÂ

Damn it Russell, now everytime I drive or ski behind your boat this next year, I cannot dream about buying it. Oh well, good colors as usual.  Rob S. (OF)  ÂÂ

Broho water 55 degrees / air 55 degrees. Board shorts, Oniel Guru top.......cold, but skied well....4 @ 35 just inside 5....PPB. Probably dry suit now.... OFÂÂ

WTF, it is the OF and son crash reel.......Every crash was either me or my kid....I have got to steal RD's camera from him......Oh wait, better yet, learn to ski with good form and maybe I don't make the highlight reel....

This is for you Boody. After Saturday, my 15 year old is calling it quits for the year. I will post his set and crash later, but this is him telling me he is done for the year. OF

Here is my kid wearing his Adrenaline Drysuit this last winter. You can see it does not flap around and he moves well in it. Spray legs over each leg seal and wears his vest underneath.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdcEqzywmKQ

If I just think, "Ski my hip to the handle," it all takes care of itself. No break at the waist and amazingly enough, my ski finishes. Amen to what the others have said as well. OFÂÂ

I have real good luck with a baggie. I am on my 5th year with my current one.  I like a baggie because I can change the layers I wear under it depending on how cold it is outside. I have found if you put spray legs over each calf once your suit is on, it keeps the legs from catching the spray when you turn and the leg seals will last a lot longer. I also where a really thin life vest underneath and it works really well. The cheapest suit I have found is from Adrenaline Watersports located in Bellevue, WA. They have a website, www.waterskideals.com  It is also a very good suit for the money. I hate wearing a drysuit, but up here in Washington, it is a necessary evil if I want to ski all winter....      ÂÂ

I had made a video of Alex at her last tournament, Tates Last Blast on 9/18-20/2009. Here it is...  ÂÂ

I just went to the SC because Richard Doane got tired of me sucking on my D3 CustomX. He gave me the SC he was on when he went to an RS-1. He is now on a A-1. I just know I have got much better with the little bit wider and forgiving ski.  I attribute this to being able to work on me, and not worry about the ski. I am currently debating on trying a Z7, as the SC is on its forth year. If you do get on the Z7, let me know what you think. OF  ÂÂ

Many of you may have heard the name, Bachmeier, at Western Regionals and Nationals. Janis and David Bachmeier, their two daughters, Alex and Mackenzie live on Rainier Lake in Yelm, Washington. The entire family three event skis. They, along with fellow lake owners, host two three event tournaments a year at Rainier Lake.   Janis and the two girls competed this year at nationals. Alex, 16 was involved in a very serious car crash on the way to school on Tuesday. She was the passenger in the car. I have attached some of the news articles from the local paper.  Last night I was told by a family friend that Alex suffered a broken Femur, foot, ribs and head injury. The good news is that she and her friend should make a full recovery. Keep the family in your thoughts and prayers.    Two Yelm High School girls, both 16, were airlifted to Harborview Medical Center after their car crashed Tuesday morning. The two girls were traveling Northbound on Morris Road near Prairie Elementary when they went around a corner too fast, crossed the center line and hit an oncoming truck, Washington State Patrol reported. Both girls were airlifted with critical injuries. UPDATE: As of 1 p.m. Wednesday Alexandria Bachmeier, 16, is in serious condition in the intensive care unit at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. The condition of Skye Calhoun, 16, is unknown because her family requested her condition not be released. UPDATE (9/29): The two YHS students who were airlifted to Harborview Tuesday morning were identified as Skye Calhoun and Alexandria Bachmeier, both 16 of Yelm. Both girls are going to be ok, said Trooper Brandy Kessler from Washington State Patrol. In the attached photo, Alex is the 2nd from the left. Was taken at Laku, this year regionals.

We do ski year round, but try not to make it a habit on the real nasty days. As RunSix knows, if you are every in the Seattle/Tacoms area, get in touch with us if you want to go for a rip. Heck, I wil even video your set and post it if you want.....   ÂÂ

Keith, I have same issues and know if I don't correct my form, I will maybe scap out 35 off, but never anything more. I went to a Radar Carbon Senate which is a forgiving ski, but still capable of running into 38. I have seen it done not only on my ski, but on other Senates. I like it because it still allows me to have fun skiing while I work on the things I need to get better. If and when I get there and can run my 32/35 clean with good form, I will step up to that premium ski. It is my belief that many of us ski on a ski that is far better than us. We think the ski is going to fix us, but in watching the good skiers who have good form, it is not the ski, but the person on it. There are many good skis out there that are forgiving enough so we can have fun, but good enough to take us deep shortline. You can see me ski on the internet tournament thread and see my issues. If I had footage of me before getting on the Senate, you would see how far I have come in year and a half getting my form to where it is at now. My hope is that with me taking more video of myself and continued work on my form, I will get to be, "That guy."     I have watched many good form skiers be able to ski well on about any ski they get on. They just ski a little better on the one that matches their style. So I say, take a step back and get on a ski that allows you to have fun, but forgiving enough so you can work on the things you need to.    ÂÂ

Here is what you did not see on Sunday at Broho.....

In my haste to finish the video I had a few spelling errors and left out the final clip at the end of the video.  I fixed them so the current video is the edited one. I noticed that I missed that I spelled Master Craft wrong, but I will live with what is posted. For those of you who are done for the year and want to play, post next year. Richard and I were thinking that it will be cool for not only seeing others ski, but the different boats and speed controls, skis and equipment used and everyones different ski sites. ÂÂ

Okay, so Richard and I are sitting around and come up with the idea to call everyone out, even the Lurkers.  We may not all be able to get together and ski a tournament, but why not use the internet?  Ski on your favorite lake, use your favorite boat, driven by your favorite driver and your speed control of choice. We thought about having a bunch of rules, buy why? It is only you who you affect if you cheat. So here are the rules: It has to be on a regulation course. The boat has to have speed control. Times have to be in tolerance. (Your chance to get a 17.01 again) Ropes and handles need to be the correct length. (No non-switch ropes on the switch) The pass that you post, MUST be run under AWSA rules used for class C tournament in the regards you have to run your passes in sequence. In order to speed up or cut line, you have to run the prior pass. The cool part is that if you miss or fall, you can start over from the beginning again. You can do it as many times you want, as long as the pass you post is run as if you were in a class C tournament. This could be fun as it would give us all a chance to put a face with a name and see each other ski.  Trust me, once you see me ski, the last thing I want everyone to do is see me ski. Then I thought, who cares, maybe this will help me get better by watching myself and others. Also if I start, maybe others will follow and we all can see each other ski. As we get better we can post each time we better our last post. It could be a blast. So if you already have footage that meets the rules, post it. If not, go out this weekend or whenever and shoot a video. Feel free to talk a little trash too. It could be fun. Here is Richard and my "Internet Tournament" set to start this all off.        ÂÂ

Richard Doan and I will be right here.......

My son (B3) and I (M3) did 10, which includes Regional’s. He is a three event skier, so we try to concentrate on going to ones that have jump and trick. Entry fees for 3 event up here in Washington are about the same or less than many of the slalom only tournaments. He likes them because more water time, bang for the buck. Chef23, when I first started tournaments I skied all INT tournaments because I was kind of intimidated going to the sanctioned ones and thought it was more fun for my two boys. After a couple of years, I realized that INT up here was all about pulling as many skiers/wake boarders you could as quickly and efficiently as you could.  The skier only got a mulligan on their opening pass and if you were not cutting line, you had to spin the islands. There also was no formal driver program or rating for any of the drivers.  For the most part all the drivers when I was going were pretty good, but you just never knew as there was no testing/rating program. It was cool for the kids to get medals/trophies, but after awhile, how many can you get before it gets old.  The INT would also pretty much go to the same lakes every year, so got a little old as well. I think now it is only about three different private lakes up here. It was after my boys went to a Jr. Development camp and were exposed to jumping and tricking, that things changed. At the camp I met several people who were owners or renters at ski lakes all over the state. They urged us to come to some AWSA tournaments. I told them I was not very good, but they said don't worry about that, just come and ski, so we did. WOW, it did not take long till I actually got to know many of the "AWSA Tournament crowd" up here.  After I was around them a couple of tournaments and started to get to know many of them, I was hooked.  I figured out that you just have to make sure you start at a speed and line length you can run in your sleep, then the mulligan thing was not a big deal. They also did not limit the number of passes you could go, and you got to drop at both ends, getting good water every pass. For myself, I would never get through a fourth pass, even if I got there, (My 35off pass) but the boys often would get into a sixth pass. The drivers were all rated and speeds were accurate (Not a big deal now with ZO). The boys also got to trick and jump, so many weekends they were on the water 6 to 7 times for less money than INT cost. An added bonus was I did not have to pay the INT insurance/member fee to ski in their tournaments. With three of us skiing, it was a chunk of change.  I have to pay my AWSA dues every year anyway because of where I ski and my boat insurance, so not having to pay was icing on the cake. I was/am one of those guys who gets nervous before I ski, so skiing a lot of sanctioned tournaments really helps with that.  I no longer am intimidated and have realized most of the skiers are just skiing against themselves and trying to just pick up just one more pass or just one more ball than they got the time before. I also started to judge, score, safety swim and drive. That was nice because I was/am never board. I also did not like the loud music/talking on the PA all day that went on at the INT tournaments as their tournament was an event and promoted and run that way. Events are cool once in awhile, but for ME, it got old. I like to just relax, hang out, watch the kids, judge and drive some, oh and rip a couple of sets hoping to get a crack every round at 35off. (I swear, I will run it by the end of next year) The best part of all is that I can look at the guide and find a tournament within the maximum of 3 hour drive, many less than an hour, every weekend of the summer, allowing me to do tournaments around my schedule. I don't have to ski certain scheduled tournaments just to be able to "Win" the opportunity to go to the championships. I just have to ski well enough in a few tournaments to qualify for regionals/nationals.  I can and have skied on almost every lake in the state, because most all of them have at least one tournament a year. I have met many people that are better skiers than me and all of them will and have given me advice that has helped my skiing. I now know pretty much all the lake owners/members of all the ski lakes in the state. For the most part, they put on their tournaments for the love and promotion of the sport. I know they often don't make enough to cover their expenses, especially this year with entries down up here. I have been invited or can call most any of them and get a ride if anytime. A whole new part of this sport was opened up when I finally figured out, other than a mulligan on my opener, The boys and I could ski more for less money, on all the best lakes, get a drop at both ends of the lake, rated drivers and both of them learned to trick and jump. I would encourage everyone to ski tournaments that give you a chance to get on a different lake, meet new people, ski behind different boats /drivers and the opportunity to trick and jump (I have seen several people actually ride trick skis and or jump for the first time at a tournament and then get hooked on the 3 event thing) If a person cannot make the course or are intimidated, many of the sanctioned tournaments have a novice class, that most of the time gives them 4 passes and or 2 falls. Some even if they fall every pass. On top of that they drop them at each end. So no matter what level you ski at or what sanctioning body, INT or AWSA, go ski where you have the most fun and get the chance to experience all aspects of the sport. Just don't, like I did, think you can't ski AWSA because you are not good enough or you have a spouse/kids that don't think they are. Kids tend to make remarkable improvement when around other kids who are good. Many AWSA tournaments now have a Novice or Grassroots sanctioning, so everyone can ski and have fun.  If more of us go, and those that do go, go to a few more, the better chance the lake owners out there will continue to have them. That is a good thing for us and the sport.         ÂÂ

My comments are in my post in the Video catagory under the 2010 Nautique test drive threat. Here is the video review.  ÂÂ

I have StarGazer's latest addition as well on my 05 Malibu lxi. One, it gives you an option of just pushing a button to tell it to time the length of a slalom course. This is so you can set it up and your speeds on open water with no course. I have never used it, but it is there.  2nd, I may have missed it in the instructions when running my baselines in, but make sure you have the skier setting at, NO SKIER, to get the correct baseline so your times with be correct for the skier settings. You have FEATHER, LIGHT, NORMAL and HEAVY. I figured the system just assumed no skier when you went to the BASELINE SETTING mode. Well, it does not and that is why my boat was always running a little fast coming into the couse when I was pulling a skier at the setting that matched them. I had to run them one or two settings below what they should to get the times perfect through all segments. I happened to be changing the skier setting to FEATHER and hit the down button one extra time and saw the NO SKIER setting. I set baselines again and my segment times have never been off more than .01 since.     ÂÂ

This weekend at a tournament one of the drivers had issues with the 2009 Malibu LXI surging and running up into the course. I had driven the boat for several classes prior to include Mens 1 and all the women classes. The speeds I pulled ranged from 28 mph to 36 mph and 15 off to 35 off. I had absolutly no issues with the boat whatsoever. I made the comment on the dock that I have never had problems with any of the Zero Off drive by wire boats to include MC, CC and Malibu in slalom, tricks is another matter, but I have that figured out now. I then said I had early on been told by a very senior driver that once you come off the island and the boat is straight, to push the throttle forward nice and smooth until it stops. I was told, DO NOT EVER STOP while pushing it forward as it can cause the boat to surge if you stop and start throtteling again.  When I said that it seemed like I had just said bad things about everyones mother. I then found out that is not the way most of the drivers that were present on the dock, do it. They push it up till it beeps that it is at speed and then leave it. I am a rated driver and have driven at several tournaments this year. I have pulled every class from boys and girls 1 to men and women 8. I have not had one re-ride due to driver or boat issues this year. I also have to drive for Richard Doane (Ball of Spray regular). We have Stargazer on our boats and they are not drive by wire, so this is never an issue for us in practice. Sorry about the long post, but am I one of the only ones who drives this way? It seems to work well for me.          ÂÂ

I use synthetics in everything. I had a 96 Malibu Response, no problems and currently have 2005 Response LXI. I use Royal Purple synthetics in engine and trans. ÂÂ